Collar-button buttoner.



J. M. NEWLON.

COLLAR BUTTON BUTTONER.

APPLICATION IILIID AUG. 31, 1912.

1 07 3 1 5 Patented Sept. 23, 1913.

4p WITNESSES W? INVENTOR /0%/7 fiflfi eco/a/i COLUMBIA PLANOGIAPM COqWASHINOTON, n. C.

JOHN M. NEWLON, OF VIENNA, VIRGINIA.

COLLAR-BUTTON BUTTONER.

Specification ofLetters Patent.

Application filed. August 31, 1912.

Patent ed Sept. 23, t 91.3.

Serial No. 718,041.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN M. Nnwnon, a citizen of the United States, residing at Vienna, in the county of Fairfax and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Collar-Button Buttoners, of which the following is a specitication.

My invention is in the nature of a buttoner for buttoning the tabs of a collar upon the collar button of the neck band of a shirt, and especially that form of turn-down collar the ends of whose wing portions come close together in front, which leaves but little space for the fingers. Great difficulty is experienced with this fashionable -t'orn'i of collar, because of the inadequate space left in front for the fingers, resulting in the erumpling and soiling oi the collar and the trying of the patience of the wearer.

My invention provides an extremely simple little toilet article, which accomplishes the object without soiling or cramping the collar, and in a very easy and expeditious manner, and which is so inexpensive in cost of production as to be negligible, enabling the dealer to give them away as advertisements of the collar or of his store.

The invention consists in the specific construction of the device, whose construction, values, and mode of use, I will now proceed to describe with reference to the drawing, in which Figure 1 is a view of the front ends of the type of collar for which my invention is especially designed, the collar being completely buttoned and the buttoner about to be removed. Fig. 2 is a view in perspective of the front ends of a collar, in which one tab end has been buttoned and the second tab end is about to be buttoned by my device, the second tab end being always the more difiicult one to secure. Figs. 3 and I are longitudinal sections taken on the line 3 l of Fig. l, and showing two positions of the buttoner, following the position shown in Fig. 2, in completing the buttoning' of the collar. Figs. 5, G and 7 are details of the buttoner itself, Fig. 5 being an edge view, Fig. 6 an end view and Fig. 7 a top view and Fig. 8 is a view of a flat sheet metal blank, showing the economical use of metal in stamping out the buttoner.

Referring to Figs. 5, 6 and 7, the buttoner consists of a thin flat piece of metal, preferably nickel plated; it is about 2-} to 3 inches long, about of an inch wide at one end and narrowing at the other to a point, and tapering in wedge shape in substantially .straight lines. At its wide end there is a sharply bent end (Z which is bent up to form an acute angle 1 of about more or less, with the body portion. This bent up end is formed with a hole in it. the upper and outer end (Z of which is of a size to cmbrace the shank of the collar button, but too small to slip over the head of the button, while the lower and larger opening (l, which communicates with the smaller one, is large enough to admit the head of the collar button thcrethrougrh. The part (Z of the buttoner forms the buttoning loop which embraces the button, the hen d of the button being inserted through the larger opening d of the device, then shift ed to bring the shank of the button into the smaller opening! rl, as usual. The acute angle 01 the bent end is innnediately adjacent to the loop portion ll" (P, so that the loop, only, stands at the acute angle to the body portion, which latter is straight, flat and tapered to a blunt point. In the drawing A A is one end, and I3 13 is the other meeting end oi the type of collar for which my invention is especially designed. A and 13 are the turndown wing portions of the outer side, and )6, I3 are the respective band portions that [it outside of and against the neck band N ol. the shirt. The parts A 13 are extended at the ends in the form of tabs (4 and 7), which have each. the usual bottom hole to button over a collar button C.

The operation of buttoning a collar with my device is as follows: Referring to Fig. 2, it will be seen that one of the collar tabs (1. has already been buttoned on to the collar button C. This act is accmnplished by my buttoner in a similar manner to that about to be described, but as the buttoning ot' the second tab 6 is always the more dillicult operation, I have preferred to describe that in detail. The tab a. having been buttoned, the loop end (Z of the buttoner is applied over the collar button and the pointed end is protrutlcd into and through the button hole of tab 2) from the inside as seen in Fig. 2, and the tab slipped up close on to the loop band (I, the body part being substantially at right angles to the neck and with the extreme outer pointed end in the axial line t'U-U passing through the longitudinal axis of the collar button. The outer end of the buttoner is now rotated between the thumb and forefinger about this axial line 03a:. The movement through the first 90 establishes the relation of the parts shown in Fig. 3, where the broad loop portion cl has pressed back and come on the front side of the extreme end of the tab, but thenar rowed loop portion (Z2 is still behind said tab. In this movement it will be seen that the acute angle bend of the loop forms a wedge that allows the inner end of the but toner to get behind the end edge a of the wing A with a reentrant angle and tangential bearing thereagainst, which throws the extreme end a outwardly, as in Fig. 3, so that the buttoner rotates freely about the axis mm without crumpling or rasping against the or ge of the wing A, and without soiling it, as the bearing is entirely on the inside. The implement is now continued in its rotation through 180, till it assumes the position shown in Fig. 4, in which the acute angular bent portion of the loop has forced all of the tab Z) behind the same, and in this movement the inner angular end of the implement gets, by reason of the acute angle, behind the extreme edge 6 of the turned down wing B, pressing the latter outwardly with a. curved tangential contact on the inner and invisible side of the wing, so as to avoid soiling the front or edge and to permit free axial rotation. It will be seen from this description, that the acute angular bend of the loop portion (Z is a very important feature, in that it accomplishes two results, first, the maintenance in all positions of rotation, of the outer end of the implement in the axial line :rm of the collar button and, secondly, the alternate spreading outwardly of the extreme wing edges a and b as seen in Figs. 3 and 4, with a curved tangential contact against the buttoner of the inner side of the wings, where soil will not show and without rasping or crumpling the sharp end edge of the wings by the movement of the buttoner. After the position shown in Fig. 4: has been attained, the rotation of the implement is continued for 90 farther about the axial line 00-40, until the position shown in Fig. l is attained. The collar is now fully buttoned and the buttoner is simply raised until the large opening d can be slipped off the head of the button.

Among the advantages of my buttoner,

are not only the practical results just described, but the straight taper of the body portion is of importance, first in allowing it to he slipped smoothly, without hitch or obstruction, through the button holes from the inside, as in Fig. 2, and, secondly, this shape also lends itself to the cheapest and most economical production of the device from standard sheet metal ofuniform thickness, and almost completely uses up the metal of the blank, as seen in Fig. 8, where the alternate reversal of the cutting dies cuts the metal with the greatest economy,

I am aware of the factthat buttoners for shoes and for collars have been devised embodying some of the broader features of .my invention, and which are well known and old in the art, but the specific features of my construction aredesigned with reference to securing special results in the s Jecial type of collar for which it is intendec, thus the important feature of my invention is not simply the acute angular position for the loop portion, but locating the acute angle immediately adjacent to said loop portion, so that this acute angle may get behindthe closely adjacent ends of the collar wings so as to permit a very smallcircle of rotation behind and between the wings. Thesevariations in construction secure new and very important results, which permit this troublesome type of turn-down collar to be easily and expeditiously put on without crumpling or soiling the edges, and with a construction so simple and economical of manufacture as to make a minimum of cost.

I claim:

A collar buttoner, comprising a body por tion of a straight tapered form widest at one end and pointed at the other, and a button engaging end portion at the wide end of the body portion formed as a loop with a small opening at its outer end and a larger communicating opening at the inner end, said looped end portion being arranged at an acute angle to the body portion and the acute angle being immediately adjacent to the looped portion.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN M. NEWLON.

Witnesses i SoLoN G. KEMON, HARRY J. BossE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Gommissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

